CES 2011 Showcased Products and Features That Will Have Enormous Benefits to the 50+ Boomer and Senior

BEVERLY HILLS, CA--(Marketwire - January 13, 2011) - The technological world gathered in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and ElderGadget.com was at the center of the activity, reviewing the latest product developments and how they will impact the active aging boomer / senior community.

Elie Gindi, founder of ElderGadget.com, earmarked three key trends from CES: Convergence, Universal Interfaces (including the human body as an easy to use interface), and Voice Recognition and assessed how these will likely affect the lives of 50+ adults, including the benefits and accessibility they bring.

How many different devices, appliances, and gadgets does an individual use in a day? How many different ways of doing things does one have to learn? Each device has its own set of buttons, its own individually designed interface, and its own way of doing things. Moreover, most people have had to learn to use them all, one at a time, which may make buying a new device intimidating.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were only one interface to learn and that interface would control most of the technology in your life? If that is your wish, take heart, it's starting to come true. Devices and apps are coming together, making them all easier to learn and use.

Gindi calls convergence "a gift to seniors." He goes on to say, "What is happening this year, is that manufacturers are beginning to converge their devices. From the phone, to the large TV, the tablet and to the computer, the hardware is different, but now, manufacturers are using the same interface to run them all."

How does this make it senior friendly? "One of the problems of why things are not friendly to seniors is that seniors generally don't take the time or see the need to learn something new. So if you give them a tablet, they may say, 'what do I need the tablet for, I'm perfectly fine with what I'm doing, technology is so complicated, why should I learn it.' However, they may be watching a lot of TV, so they would be very motivated to learn how to use the TV. If the TV has the same interface as the tablet, and they pick up the tablet, there is no barrier to learning how to use it; they've already learned the technology -- same thing with the phone."

Gindi believes that technology is moving from the many to the one interface and that this shift will help individuals maximize the "use" of the available technology with minimal effort and competitively. "While we will all benefit from it," he says, "seniors will benefit the most." Coining the phrase the 'new useable,' Gindi refers to the ability for the aging boomer and senior to stay connected and interactive longer and compete with greater ease.